Paired Project: Tales of Zestiria
by Meredith Mary
Summary: Sorey is in his second year studying archaeology at university. This is how he meets Mikleo, someone who will go on to mean more to Sorey than he had ever imagined. Real world, modern day, university, 'what if they had met a adults' AU. Slow burn romance.
1. January

"Damnit Sorey, you didn't buy any kitchen roll. Or washing up liquid. Did you even -"

Rose looked in the fridge.

"- the damn milk Sorey?"

Sorey grabbed his coat off the rack and stuffed some cereal bars and an apple in his rucksack.

"Sorry. I'll pick them up on my way home. Promise."

"How am I meant to make my morning coffee?"

"I'll get some tonight."

"You'd better, or Alisha'll be giving you a lecture."

"I will, I will. See ya Rose."

He locked the door behind him. The three of them had been living together for a semester and they hadn't quite worked out the kinks. Shopping and cleaning rotas were good in theory but hadn't taken into account the complexities of real life, such as it being really cold and his nose turning so red and tingly he had hurried home as fast as he could, forgetting the shopping.

It was still cold in the morning, but he had remembered to wear a scarf today, which he had wrapped around the lower portion of his face. The sky was such clean pale blue and the crescent moon was still hanging there, even at half eight in the morning. It was a beautiful day to look at, he loved days like these, but preferred them from the window of his attic room.

It was the second week of the summer semester. _Summer._ Seemed an odd definition for the period between January and June. It was the first full week of lectures. Today was the first of the _The World of the Vikings_ module. Vikings!

By the time he had gotten to the lecture theatre he was only three minutes late. That was pretty good for him, the lecturer hadn't even started yet.

When he did he listened intently. Images of old dug out long ships and roundhouses flashed up on the projector. Photos of bronze Mjolnirs from different areas and era's. A whistle stop tour through Norse mythology. Professor Mayvin was an excellent lecturer. He was knowledgeable, passionate and engaging. But introductory lectures were always fun for the first half. The second half, however, explaining the timetable and the assignments weren't.

"This assignment is to be conducted as a paired exercise, split into 3 separate hand-ins through the semester. This slide shows a list of the pairings, be sure to write it down."

He squinted at the tiny text in the tiny table to try and see who his partner would be.

 _M. Rulay._

That was that Mikleo guy, wasn't it? The funny looking one? He'd seen him around the last year and a half, but had never talked to him. They hadn't taken any of the same optional modules before and they had never been in any of the same groups or seminars for the core modules. He tried to look for him in the audience. He wasn't hard to spot, he had bright white hair. The stranger thing was that in the right light his eyes were purple. He had tried to rationalise this when he had first seen him. Maybe it was a kind of albinism, the blue pigment in his eyes was translucent and mixed with the red in his capillaries turned a kind of purple. It would make sense with the white hair, and he did have very pale clear skin. There was something oddly ethereal about him. He spotted him in the crowd, he was looking back at him. Sorey lifted his hand up to wave, but Mikleo had turned away. He looked like he was blushing. It was hard to hide it with such fair skin. Maybe he was shy, he hadn't ever really seen him hanging around with anyone else in the department.

The lecture ended and he packed up his notes into his satchel. He saw the light on his phone flashing and swiped it open.

 _Rose: Milk, dumbass._

She was right to have doubted him. He had forgotten.

 _Sorey: Of course! Its not like I_ _'d forgotten. Have more faith in me._

He put it in his pocket and wrapped himself in his scarf. He left the lecture, and started to walk towards the main exit when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey."

It was Mikleo. His voice was muffled by a high collared coat that was zipped all the way up to the top. His eyes were just as purple as he'd thought they were through his rimless glasses. His hair had been pushed up away from his face, but strands had fallen and swept across his brows. He was a little flushed.

"You're Sorey, right?"

"Yes," he said with a nod. "And you're Mikleo?"

"We're partners for the assignment."

"Did you wait out here for me?" Sorey asked.

Mikleo nodded.

"Did you want to exchange contact details?"

Sorey pulled his phone and opened it on the contacts page.

"Here put your number in."

The young man did and handed it back.

"Were you heading to the library?" Mikleo asked. Sorey nodded back at him, phone held in his mouth as struggled with his zipper.

"Wait -" Mikleo took the phone from his mouth and yanked the end of Soreys scarf out the teeth of the zip. "-there you go."

"Thanks. And yes I was. Gonna grab the recommended reading before it's gone."

"Me too. I'll walk with you."

The cold hit them like a wall after they left the double doors of the building. They walked in silence for a little while. Sorey noticed Mikleo wasn't wearing his glasses. He never saw him take them off. Maybe he only needed them for reading? He'd only ever seen him lectures and in the library. Maybe he didn't need them all the time? His eyes looked straight ahead, focused and serious. So very serious.

"If we're going to be partners you should know a little about me so um, I'm Sorey, you know that -" Mikleo nodded. "- um, I'm currently studying- damn, you know that too."

Mikleo nodded again, Sorey swore he could see him stifle a giggle.

"I'm from a little mountain village in the North West. You won't have heard of it. I live half an hour up the main road, with two girls, Rose and Alisha. My favourite colour is blue. There's a lot more to me, but I can't think of anything right now."

"I'm from a little village too. I also live with two girls, Lailah and Edna. And …my favourite colour is also blue. It sounds a little like I copied all your answers."

Sorey gave him a light shove on the shoulder, which he wasn't expecting. "That's cool, sounds like we have a lot in common."

The entered through the revolving doors of the library and were net with a humid heat and the condensed smell of students. Sorey pulled a folded up handout out of his coat pocket to look at the reading list, Mikleo had already done the same.

"Sorey, if we're looking for the same books, we can split it up between us. I'll get the first four, you get the second, and we'll meet back here."

"Good thinking."

Sorey looked at the reading list. It didn't have the Dewey decimal codes for the books, so he went onto the libraries database on his phone.

 _Alisha: Remember the shopping! :-)_

They had so little faith in him.

 _You: Gotcha :)_

He stuffed his phone back in his pocket, then remembered why he'd got it out in the first place. He found one of the books on the fourth floor, the next on the second, remembered he was meant to be getting two of each, ran back up to the fourth to get a second of the first book, spent a long time looking for the third book, which was right next to the second, and went to get the fourth book, which was on the fourth. He went back to the ground floor foyer and found Mikleo already sitting on a bench on his phone, next to a large stack of books. He dropped the books next to him with a thud, and sat.

"Here you go, that's all of them."

The young man looked up at Sorey startled.

"They only had one of copy of the Bronsted text."

"We can share it, we'll be working together anyway. You can take it for now. I'm going to head home."

They walked home together partway. Mikleo was strange. He could never meet his eyes, it was like they couldn't focus. Maybe because he wasn't wearing his glasses. Then why wasn't he wearing them? Most of the time he was staring blankly at either the floor or the sky and nothing in-between. He wasn't being the best conversationalist, he took a while to respond and got lost mid-sentence. Maybe he didn't get enough sleep last night?

He went to the shop and bought the milk, and also Ben and Jerry's ice cream was on sale, so he bought a tub of chocolate brownie and cookie dough, and also a tub on raspberry sorbet that took his fancy.

"Guys, I come bearing milk," he said as he walked through his front door.

"What about the kitchen roll and washing up liquid?" Rose said as she poked her head out of her room.

Sorey handed her the bag of milk and ice cream.

"I'll be back with them in twenty minutes."

Thirty minutes later Sorey came back and dropped down into the cushions of the sofa, Alisha next to him.

"Have a good day Sorey? Anything interesting happen?"

"Yep, it was OK" he said. "Nothing monumental though."


	2. February

Sorey's head shot up, alert. His text tone was of a certain frequency that always reverberated through his skull in a most sudden and unpleasant way.

 _Mikleo: Have you seen this?_

Attached was a link to an article with some updates and photos of an ongoing dig in Finland. There was detailed drawings of the markings and decorations on brooches, with reams of theories on what they might mean. He read it all enthralled. He almost forgot to message Mikleo back, but at least it was a text, so he wouldn't have gotten one of those infuriating _seen_ notices.

 _Sorey: this is really interesting. Do you think we could use this for our part a?_

 _Mikleo: That_ _'s what I was thinking :-)._

The response was almost instantaneous. Had Mikleo been waiting by his phone? Maybe he was just on his phone.

 _Sorey: was that the same site as where they found those ceremonial helmets a few months back?_

Again, almost instantaneous.

 _Mikleo: Helmets? :-/_

Sorey pored through his browser history trying to find the article he had read a month ago. He sent him the link.

Mikleo replied within ten minutes.

 _Mikleo: Did you see what I_ _'m seeing?_

How did he expect him to know what he was seeing? Sorey racked his brain, not wanting to seem stupid. He reread both articles, forensically, looking through all the tables and diagrams. Then he saw it. Mikleo was good.

 _Sorey: sorry for delay, i was just showering. the markings on the helmets are the same as the ones recently found in denmark._

He had got there in the end.

 _Mikleo: That_ _'s really interesting, right?_

He must keep his phone in his pocket, Sorey thought.

 _Sorey: think we can use it?_

That's how the rest of Sorey's evening went. He was barely even watching the _Doctor Who_ episodesplaying on the screen of his desktop. There was barely a minutes rest between Mikleo's texts. Sorey didn't mind. Not in the slightest. Mikleo was being an excellent sounding board for all his thoughts and ideas regarding the project, and he was full of so much knowledge and so many ideas.

He wasn't like this in person. The last few weeks when they'd been studying in the library Mikleo had been far too … focused maybe? He'd never strung a conversation longer than a few sentences together and couldn't meet his gaze for more than a few seconds. Sorey had suspected in the beginning that Mikleo simply didn't like him, as much as he hated the thought. But with time Sorey had decided that that wasn't the case, for reasons he couldn't quite make clear in his head. But he believed it anyway. That there wasn't any animosity there, that Mikleo just felt more comfortable when there was a book between them.

He'd started to smile more too. His smiles were more like smirks really, but there was a definite warmth there. However Sorey couldn't help but get irritated that they never lasted more than a second, as soon as he realised he was smiling his face would instantly default to neutral. Why did he feel the need to do that?

This long text conversation was further proof that Mikleo didn't hate him, and Sorey couldn't help but smile with every high pitched _bloop_ his phone would make.

He hoped this would make Mikleo know that he was _100% down_ with having these kinds of conversations in real life. Long, incredibly nerdy discussions and debates were something Sorey had been hoping to find at university, and he had been disappointed. Some people on his course he was sure had only picked archaeology because they needed something to do and liked watching _Time Team_ on Sunday nights as a kid. There were more who did have a genuine interest in the subject, but schoolyard type gossip always won out.

But maybe Mikleo was just one of those people who just had far more confidence in their words when they're written down? He hoped that even if that were true, Mikleo would text him like this again.

Maybe Mikleo was only still texting him out of politeness, not knowing how to end the conversation, but surely he would have stopped by now?

Sorey opened up his phone. The clock couldn't be right. 2am?

 _Mikleo: Yeah, Mayan mythology is awesome. I have a book about it, you could borrow it if you like :-)_

It was 2am, and here they were, talking about the ancient Mayans for no good reason.

 _Sorey: that sounds great, but I think I should go to bed now._

 _Mikleo: Sorry! I didn_ _'t see the time! Good night :-)_


	3. March: Presentation

There was a firm knock at the door at around eleven-fifteen. Sorey hadn't heard. It was a Sunday morning, so he was in his bed, streaming _Game of Thrones._ He wouldn't have heard anyway in his attic room.

"Sorey," yelled Rose. "You get the door, I'm in the shower and Alisha just left for a run."

He threw back his sheets and pulled on the pair of jeans at the foot of his bed, and hurried down the stairs without a shirt. He opened the door to find Mikleo.

His hair was falling over his face, sweeping over his eyebrows in a soft curve, and he was wearing a T-shirt and a jersey hoody and jeans. _So this is what Mikleo looks like on his down days,_ he thought.

His cheeks were flushed, but his brows and eyes told a story of pure fury. His head was turned to the ground, his hands, fists.

He turned his head up in order to stare Sorey down.

"Why weren't you answering your phone!" Mikleo said, lunging forwards, taking a step over the threshold.

He wanted to try and take him seriously, but Sorey had always found that when people smaller than you are angry, it's hilarious. Sorey turned to his left to see his phone on the kitchen table where he must have left it overnight. He ran to pick it up.

 _You have 7 missed calls from Mikleo._

 _You have 3 new voicemails._

 _Mikleo: Call me as soon as you can :)_

 _Mikleo: I_ _'m Serious._

 _Mikleo: Coursework emergency!_

 _Mikleo: please sorey im not kidding_

 _Mikleo: DAMN IT SOREY_

"I must have left this downstairs all last night. I'm sorry."

Sorey turned to Mikleo. There was a wobble in his mouth and his eyebrows. He was trying his best keep looking serious and mad, still standing halfway through the doorway.

"You can come in y'know," Sorey said with as big a smile as he could muster. Mikleo's face fell into sigh of defeat.

"I'll go put a shirt on."

"That'll probably be for the best," Mikleo said, sitting down on the sofa.

"You stay here, you can tell me what's going on when I get back."

When Sorey came back downstairs there were a selection of books spread over the coffee table.

"We thought the deadline for the presentation was a week tomorrow. Turns out it's split into two groups, the first going tomorrow. We're the first group."

Sorey sat down next to Mikleo as he continued.

"It wasn't on the hand out we were given, but it was on the online calendar."

"I suppose we had better get started then. Coffee?"

It had only taken them eight hours, not including stops for lunch. Mikleo was a harsh taskmaster, in all the time that Sorey had not been answering his phone, he had made a prioritised checklist and plan, and gathered all the resources. They spent the whole afternoon sat in Soreys room, Sorey on his desktop, Mikleo on his laptop, sending passages of text and slides to each other, diving in and out of the nest of books and papers that had formed around them. Alisha had brought them both tea every couple of hours. But after some time, they were done and they were happy.

"I'm starving," Sorey said, while Mikleo shut down his laptop. "Do you fancy splitting a Chinese takeaway? There's a good one down the road, Rose and Alisha will probably go in with us."

Mikleo was unsure for a few moments. "Ok, that sounds good."

Sorey called Rose and Alisha, Rose agreed without delay, and Alisha made mumblings about she _really shouldn_ _'t_ , but handed Sorey some money without coercion. They all got into a civil debate hunched over the menu and Sorey was sent on his way.

Mikleo had looked so tired. He must have been so stressed, and it was partly his fault. Mikleo had done so much before he had even started. One of the voicemails he had left was from 3am.

He walked through the cool spring evening, _Arlandria_ by Foo Fighters playing through his headphones.

He be in a real mess right now if it weren't for Mikleo. He'd have failed. Sure, he could re submit over summer, but his grade would be capped at 40%. Because of Mikleo he'd got a lot higher than that. He'd make sure he carried more than his weight for the next project.

A bell rang as he walked through the door and placed his order. He sat down. He'd left Mikleo with Rose and Alisha. He'd never left him alone with them before. Alisha would probably be gushing niceties at him and he hoped that he 'got' Roses sense of humour. At least they had one thing in common- him. He wondered if they were talking about him. Probably. There was nothing all that embarrassing they could tell each other, sure he had done some regrettable things inebriated at 2am, but they'd all been freshers once.

He collected their food and walked home as fast as he could, so the food wouldn't cool down at all.

Sorey walked through his front door to find Mikleo laughing out loud, more than he had ever seen him laughing before. Mikleo tried to straighten his face when he saw him.

Rose came up to him to take the bag. "We were just telling Mikleo about that time you tried to commandeer a digger on the way home from a bar crawl."

"I wanted to steal it and keep it in the garden in case I ever needed it to do an excavation. You would have done the same thing."

"I don't think I would," Mikleo replied with a warm smile in his eyes.

They had all sat down, around the coffee table and had a pleasant dinner. They had decided to watch a movie, but Sorey and Mikleo had trouble deciding on what to watch. Not because of differing tastes, but because for all the films either of them picked out, the other had watched recently. They eventually settled on _Raiders of the Lost Ark,_ not because Indiana Jones was an archaeologist - the films bear little relation to real archaeological practice - but because it's a classic.

The four of them piled onto the Sofa, sipping cheap lager. Mikleo had fallen asleep after less than an hour. He didn't wake up until Rose and Alisha stood up at the end of the film. He squirmed half asleep and threw his arms around Sorey and squeezed. His eyes opened slowly. Sorey smiled down at him. Mikleo shot up straight, arms by his sides.

"Sorey." He rubbed his eyes. "Did I fall asleep?

"Yeah. Missed most of the movie."

"Lucky I know how it ends then." Mikleo looked at the wall clock. "It's late. I should go home."

"Did you want me to walk you home?"

Mikleo's eyebrows suddenly raised, his mouth a little ajar.

"Walk me home?"

"Yeah. It's late and dark, and you did just wake up."

Mikleo turned away to gather his things. "I think I'll be fine," he said stuffing books into his satchel.

"Ok," Sorey said, fetching him his laptop. "Make sure you get back safe. And get plenty of sleep."

"I will," Mikleo responded, muffled by the scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face.

"Good night Mikleo."

"Good night Sorey."


	4. March: Drunkleo

"Sorey."

He peered up from over his book.

"Hm?"

"I've been meaning to tell you. It's my birthday on Saturday. My housemates are throwing me a party. It won't be very many people. You could come if you wanted."

"Well, when you put it that way …"

With mild irritation Mikleo retorted, "It would be nice if you came."

"Ok. I'll be there."

It was Saturday. Mikleo had said any time after eight and it was now half past and he'd only just eaten. But it was so hard judging when the correct time to turn up to parties was. Before university he would have just assumed the time that he was told, but he had since learned that that was wrong.

He rummaged through his wardrobe. What did he have that wasn't sweaty or creased? The blue shirt would do perfectly. He still had one pair of jeans that weren't ripped or faded. Did he tuck his shirt in or not? Did it look too formal or did it look like he had made just the right amount of effort? He had never got the hang of clothes.

He brushed his hair, fixing up his parting and sweeping the fringe to the side, off of his face. It would last precisely until he left the house.

 _How much beer should he bring_ , he asked himself staring into the fridge. Would it be an _everyone shares the booze_ thing or did he just need to bring enough for himself for the evening? How much would that even be? He packed four bottles into his satchel.

Twenty minutes later and he was approaching Mikleo's door. He didn't know anyone here other than Mikleo. But he would be alright.

He knocked on the door.

"Sorey!" Mikleo said with elation, red faced, pupils dilated and unfocused. He grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into his living room. "Sorey's here," he called to no one in particular. Four pairs of unfamiliar eyes stared at him with looks of sympathy. Mikleo let go of him and waved his arms at him in a grand and slightly wobbly gesture.

"Guys, guys, _guys,_ GUYS, This is Sorey."

Sorey couldn't help but do a small bow. He was a loss for what to do when put on display like that.

A tall young woman with long hair did a little sea lion clap. "I must apologise for Mikleo's behaviour -"

"Don't apologise for my behaviour is fine," Mikleo interjected, flopping down onto a chair, reaching for a beer from the table.

"-for Zaveid and Edna" - she pointed at a young man with long hair and only one button done on his shirt and a short girl with shoulder length blonde hair - "pressured him into doing shots."

"He's responding well to the vodka," said the one she had called Edna. "If we give him more he might become something that could be described as fun. It's a simple scientific experiment. And drunk Mikleo is the best Mikleo. Drunkleo."

"Don't you dare Edna. It'll be me mothering him when he's incapacitated with a hangover tomorrow, not you. Leave the poor boy alone."

"He looks perfectly happy to me." She gestured to Mikleo, who was swirling the beer around in his bottle, holding it up to the light and smiling at the bubbles.

"Where are my manners," said the tall woman, extending a hand to Sorey. "I'm Lailah, and that over there is Dezel." She pointed at a man with lank hair over his eyes, hunched over a can of cider.

Edna walked up to Sorey and looked him up and down with hand on her hips. "So you're this Sorey we've been hearing so much about. I expected more."

Lailah pulled him into the kitchen. "What she means to say is that Mikleo speaks very well of you. You're study partners or something?" She handed him a bottle opener from the drawer.

"Thanks. Yes, we are. He's never said much about you. What do you two do?"

"Edna here studies geology. I'm history."

Sorey took a swig of his beer. "So how do you all know each other?"

"Well, we all lived in the same block in halls last year. We were the left overs after all our flatmates found groups to get houses with. So the three of us got this place together. Dezel was in the same flat as Mikleo, and Zaveid used to come from the same little town as Dezel. So we all know each other, and it's nice."

"We were the kind of people who hung out in the kitchen at parties, while the cool kids were all making eyes at each other," said Edna, pouring a row of shots.

A pair of hands slapped Sorey on the back. "Stop hogging the fresh meat, guys." A hand was extended to him. "Zaveid."

He then reached over Sorey to down a shot, and then a second.

"I'm DJ'ing this thing, so if you have any requests, I have an IPhone full of the hottest house."

"Oh." So it was Zaveid who was responsible for the monotonous thuds in the background. He didn't think it seemed like Mikleo's kind of thing. "I prefer my music with a few more guitars, I have to say."

"Your loss. So you're Mikboy's friend. A fellow architecture nerd for him."

"Archaeology, but yeah."

"Good to know he has at least one friend on his course, you know. With him being such an overly argumentative killjoy, we all worry about him."

Sorey had never thought of Mikleo as such. Cautious and sensible and loving a spirited debate, maybe.

"Are many more people coming?"

"Oh yes," replied Lailah. "We invited all his old flatmates and some of our other friends. It's still early."

Zaveid took a shot and handed it to Dezel, and when he refused he sank it himself.

Sorey went to sit on the sofa with a second beer. Mikleo sat next him and immediately laid his head on his shoulder.

"Sorey. You _caaame_."

"Yeah, I did. Happy birthday buddy."

Mikleo tilted his head up to him, and started to pull at Sorey's hair.

"I've been to say you're really handsome S'rey."

"Umm …thanks Mikleo."

"I'm not as good looking as you but am a little cleverer."

"Whoa there, I don't think so dude," Sorey said with a laugh.

Mikleo lurched up into a position loosely resembling straight, and stared him down with furious, if slightly wobbly eyebrows.

"No, _no,_ NO, you listen to me S'rey, you will let me have this one."

Mikleo put a hand on Soreys shoulder and began to gently shake him.

"You're lot more pretty than I am and I'm only a little more clever and it's _not faaiirrrrrrr._ _"_

Mikleo collapsed into his lap. Sorey started to stroke his hair in a smoothing motion as if he were a small child or a cat. "You're too hard on yourself."

"You're nice Sorey. I like you."

Sorey couldn't help but smile. "I like you too, Mikleo."

"Do you think I'm pretty Sorey?"

"As a princess."

About an hour had passed and no one else had arrived. Sorey was glad Mikleo was as drunk as he was, because it meant he wasn't upset. He was glad he had turned up, because he knew Mikleo would have been upset if he hadn't. He might be upset tomorrow, however, but right now he was quite happily rambling incoherently about his theories on Atlantis. Sorey hadn't been allowed to move or stop stroking his hair, Mikleo was practically purring. He couldn't help but find the whole thing endearing.

Zaveid and Dezel had gone into the small paved over garden to smoke a joint, but Dezel had been put in charge of the music before they left. Metallica's _Nothing Else Matters_ reverberated solemnly around the room. Mikleo was half singing along into Soreys shirt, Lailah and Edna were slowly spinning around the room, skirts swishing, arms swinging to the music in what might have been interpreted as modern dance. Sorey had watched Edna consume a large amount of vodka over the evening and it seemed like it was starting to take effect. Lailah had only needed two glasses of red. The song ended.

 _Cut my life into pieces,_ the speaker yelled.

Mikleo sat up with a jolt. The song was so much louder than the one preceding it.

"Good, you're up." Sorey stood up. "Where's your toilet?"

"First left at the top of the stairs," Lailah informed him.

When he came back a few minutes later, Mikleo was waiting for him at the bottom of stairs, hands on his hips, pouting.

"I was waiting for you!"

"Well I'm back now."

The song had been replaced by a dreary piece that could have been mistaken for a whale song recording if it weren't for the inclusion of lazy drums and infrequent melancholic piano. Sorey looked through Dezel's IPod. There was very little that Sorey could recognise.

"Ok, this should do nicely."

Mikleo's eyes lit up as he heard the opening chords of _Wonderwall._ That song was always a safe bet.

"Dance with me Sorey," Mikleo demanded. Sorey nodded and Mikleo put one arm around his waist and the other holding his hand out extended.

"This isn't a waltz, you know."

Mikleo didn't care. He started to rock them both forwards and backwards and slowly spin them. Lailah watched them with a smile and a blush and a little clap. Edna was stifling her laughter and was on the brink of tears. She went the garden to call the others to watch. By that time the song had changed to _Don_ _'t look back in anger,_ and Mikleo had put his other hand around Soreys back, and rested his head on his chest, still swaying. Sorey suddenly felt extremely hot inside his skin, having four near strangers watching him and his heavily inebriated course mate he had known for little over month, slow dancing to Oasis.

Monday came. Mikleo scurried through the door 10 minutes late to his lecture. He sat down next to Sorey, his eyes red, his hair without the style he usually wore to lectures.

"Are you Ok?" Sorey whispered.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm alive. Yesterday was a write off though."

"It's just that you look a bit rough, and that's not a pen you're holding, that's a spoon."

After the lecture, Mikleo didn't look any more awake.

"Sorey, I'm sorry. I was a bit … not myself on Saturday. I vaguely remember saying some stuff about me being smarter than you and I apologise."

"Yeah, but at the same time you said I was handsome, and one out of two is a passing grade."

Mikleo smirked. "I also remember something about, uh, trying to dance with you?"

"Oh, you succeeded. You were very insistent."

"That is rather embarrassing. I'm sorry. And speaking of sorry, I know we usually go to the library after lectures, but I'm going to go straight home, can we meet tomorrow instead?"

"Of course," said Sorey, as Mikleo began to walk away.

" _Because maybe_ -" Sorey sang under his breath as Mikleo shot him a look.

"- _you_ _'re gonna be the one that saves me_."


	5. April: The Day Trip

Sorey waited for Mikleo at the station. He and Mikleo had decided to go on a day trip during the Easter holidays, or as Mikleo kept insisting, a 'research trip.' They had both wanted to go to the Viking Museum, and there was lots of other historical sites to see in the city as well.

He was sat on an uncomfortable punched metal bench, staring up at the departure board. Mikleo should be there in three minutes.

When the train arrived, Sorey could easily see Mikleo's white hair in the crowd, coming down the platform at a brisk pace. Sorey stood up to wave with a smile, and ran a few paces towards him he caught his eyes.

"Sorey."

"Mikleo!"

Sorey almost went in for a hug, but remembered that they'd never done that before sober.

But while Sorey was smiling, Mikleo was looking back at him coldly, with an ever so slight scrunch in his face.

"You cut your hair." There was a distinct accusatory note in Mikleo's voice.

"Yeah, well it was getting a bit floppy."

Was that the reason for the dour face? It was just the same as he'd always had it cut and it had only been a few weeks longer when they had first started working together. Why did he even care?

Mikleo's pout turned to a smirk.

"You look passable, I guess."

"Thanks Mikleo. That means a lot, coming from you." He slung his rucksack over his shoulder. "Should we get going?"

A significant portion of the museum had consisted of being sat in a small carriage, and slowly taken around on a train track though an indoor replica of a Viking village, complete with animatronic villagers and animals.

Sorey had been the first to break. Around the first bend a poorly animated rooster let out a pathetic tinny _caw,_ and Sorey melted into laughter.

Sorey started to make silly voices to go with the tacky plastic models. As the train turned a corner they came face to face with a plastic model of a man with his tangled plastic hair falling out, tan skin colour paint flaking off, laboriously swinging a fibreglass hammer up and down, with an unsettling crunch each time. Sorey dropped his voice down to a manly growl and started his slightly off key song.

" _I'm a blacksmith and I'm OK / I sleep all night and work all day / I swing my hammer, I skip and jump / I like to press wild flowers / I put on women's clothing / and hang around in bars."_

Mikleo spluttered besides him, leaning forward to the front of the carriage, face red with suppressed laughter.

There were assistants, real people dressed in the clothes of the period, and they had had raised their eyebrows at the pair of them, and carried on.

The actual museum, portion had been fun too, both of them huddled around glass cabinets, rattling off dates of wars and historic figures to each other. There was a skull in a case with a huge puncture in the skull, labelled _cause of death unknown._ Sorey sniggered.

"I have a suggestion."

Mikleo gave him a shove on the shoulder. "They probably just mislabelled it the last time they moved it."

"Aww, you're no fun Mikleo."

In the museum shop Mikleo was browsing through all the overpriced books for sale. Sorey gave him a firm tap on the shoulder with a plastic battle axe.

"Put it back Sorey."

He waited a few seconds before giving Mikleo a hard prod in the ribs with a foam sword.

"Put it _back_ Sorey."

Sorey did as he was told.

Mikleo walked back to him and leaned over his shoulder.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're an adult? I'd swear that you didn't know."

"Ha. Maybe I'm a big kid but you're acting like you're my forty year old mother."

Mikleo seemed to take offence. "Mother? Why not your father?"

"Because a father would pick up another sword and fight me. And the mother would tell them both off."

Mikleo smiled. "You're not going to goad me into fighting you."

"Aww. Why not?"

"If you really want to spar let's do this properly. Choose your weapon. Your garden, when we get back to uni. To the death."

Sorey carefully picked out a sword from the tub. It was a two hander in design, with a long hilt, but since it was made for children it wasn't as long as it should be and made out softwood. It could be held easily in one hand. He held it out in front of him as if testing the balance and took two controlled swings.

"OK. This one should do nicely. And I think sparring to the death is missing the point."

Mikleo reached out behind the tub of swords and took a long staff. It was made of a thick piece of bamboo, with a painted blue wooden sphere at the tip.

"Are you sure Mikleo? Why pick a staff when you could pick a sword?"

Mikleo gave him a tap on the shoulder.

"I have my reasons."

The pair of them sat in the midday sun. It was pleasant. It was just warm enough so that they might have sweat, but there was a cool breeze, making it perfect. They were sat across from each other at a small table in the beer garden of an establishment that had been a pub for the last seven hundred years. Sorey sipped on a thick dark ale and Mikleo slowly sucked his apple juice through a straw, while they waited on their burgers. Their weapons were leant against their chairs. Mikleo's staff slipped and hit him in the head with an audible knocking sound.

"Ugh." Mikleo rubbed the sore spot on his head. "I didn't even think about getting this back on the train. I'll get some really funny looks."

Sorey picked up the staff and propped it up next to his.

"Does it matter if you get funny looks?"

"I guess not, no. It must be nice inside your head."

Sorey laughed. "Yeah it is actually. You should try it."

"How exactly would I do that?"

"Just act like me."

"That sounds like a recipe for disaster."

Sorey sat his beer down on the table. "Yeah. You're probably right."

Sorey looked down the street they were sat adjacent to. It was narrow and cobbled, with grooves in the roads surface from centuries of horse drawn carriages. It was pedestrianised now. Happy families and couples walked down the road, ducking in and out of all the tiny shops, built into the ground floor of timber framed houses that had sagged with the burden of time. He could see three more pubs like the one he was in right now and lots of cafes.

"It's a really romantic place isn't it?"

"Sorey - what do you mean by that?"

"I just mean that it'd be a really nice place to take someone on a date."

Mikleo swirled his straw around his drink.

"I've never asked - what's the kind of girl you'd bring to a place like this?"

Sorey scratched the back of his head. "Y'know, I don't really know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just don't. What about you?"

Mikleo paused, dumbstruck. "I don't know."

Sorey took a long sip of his beer and licked his lips. "It would have to be someone quite clever and nerdy. Someone I could talk to for hours. You?"

"Let me think for a second." Mikleo took a large swig of his apple juice. "Someone clever and nerdy as well. And someone who can make me laugh. And I guess I like brunets."

"The majority of the population are brunette, so at least you've got the numbers going for you!"

Sorey reached down into his bag. "Before I forget, I got you something."

He handed Mikleo a small package. Mikleo unwrapped it and held out a pewter charm made to look like Thors hammer, Mjolnir, on a thin brown leather thong.

"You got me a necklace?"

"It's a replica of one found on the site of the museum. I got one for myself as well, bought them when you weren't looking. I thought they were cool." He extended his hand. "Here, let me tie a sliding knot in it."

After several attempt at tying the fiddly knot he handed it back to Mikleo who pulled it over his head.

"If the Vikings were right, it'll protect you. And me too."

Mikleo had turned flushed again. "Thank you Sorey. This was really nice of you. I'll have to get you something too, one of these days."

Sorey had done tying his own around his neck. "As a bonus feature, it means that you won't forget me. Pretty hard to forget me with that tied around your neck."

"I don't think I was ever in any danger of forgetting you Sorey."


	6. April: Fight Night

Sorey had gotten a lot of odd looks, walking through the residential streets with a large wooden sword strapped to his back. He didn't mind. He felt like he was pretty cool.

It turned out that Mikleo had been completely serious about fighting him. It was surprising. Why did Mikleo so want to fight him? Did he feel like he had something to prove? Or maybe he's dealing with some issue he could only relieve by beating him up and getting beaten up in return? Either way Sorey wouldn't deny him this.

It was a sunny Saturday, so Lailah thought it would be a good idea to combine their fight night with a barbeque, and Rose and Alisha were joining them, Alisha carrying a bag with fresh butchers sausages and a homemade salad, Rose, a six pack.

It would be Sorey's first time seeing Mikleo since their day trip.

When the door was opened to them Mikleo stood there. He was wearing a loose fitting shirt, sports shorts and trainers instead of his usual smart shoes, with a face that could only be called 'battle ready'. There was one more notable change in his appearance.

"You dyed your hair blue."

It was a cool, almost silvery blue, with the colour getting gradually deeper towards the tips. It looked almost fluid where the light hit it, and with it fallen across his face as it was now, it made the purple in his eyes look so much brighter.

"Well, I'm young and there's only so much time I can get away with stuff like this. I thought it might look good."

Sorey reached out to touch and tousle it and for a second he thought it looked like water.

"You look pretty, like an alien."

Mikleo's head snapped around towards the door and he removed Soreys hand from his head as he urged him into the garden.

There was a rush of hot air as the door was opened and it stung his eyes. The barbeque was already lit. It was Rose and Alisha's first time meeting Lailah and Edna. Lailah ran over to them, the rim of her floppy sunhat bobbing up and down.

"Sorey! You look well."

Before Sorey could reply Edna stepped out from behind him.

"But he'll look better covered in blood and bruises. At least that seems to be the theory Meebo is working on."

"Meebo?" Rose asked.

"Mr blue hair over there. Meebo."

Rose and Alisha both nodded, a little amused.

"You must be Rose and Alisha. We've heard a little about you. I'm Lailah and this is Edna," Lailah said extending a hand to them. "We already have some burgers going, is that a salad? That's really sweet of you!"

Mikleo walked past them with his staff. He had used an elastic headband to hold his hair of his brow. He stood in the middle of the lawn, holding his staff, doing a few different swings and moves.

 _Had he been googling this stuff?_

"Sorey," he called.

Sorey clearly wasn't taking this as seriously as him. Why did this mean so much to him?

He took his sword in his hands and stepped up to face him from a few paces away.

"Straight away then?"

Mikleo nodded, his eyes deadly.

Sorey nodded back, trying to keep his expression as amicable as possible.

In one sudden movement Mikleo lunged forwards and struck a blow to Soreys chest.

They were quite evenly matched. Sorey was faster and stronger, but Mikleo's staff had a longer reach and every move he made was tactical and deliberate. There was a true grace in the way he moved, fluid, yet precise and powerful, and Sorey eyes carefully followed every step.

It felt like they had been fighting for some time. Soreys hair had been stuck down with sweat and he was chaffing in his jeans, and he envied Mikleo's foresight when it came to clothing. His breaths were getting shorter and Mikleo was heaving with his deep inhalations.

Mikleo took a swing at him and he ducked to the side, getting close enough to him the land a kick in his chest.

Mikleo's knees fell from under him, and he collapsed. There was a yelp of pain as his head struck the brick lining the flowerbed.

"Mikleo!" Sorey rushed closer. "You're bleeding, I'm so-"

Mikleo swung his staff and swept Sorey off his feet. He clambered up to kick his sword away and stepped over his chest, towering over him, and pressed the end of his staff to Soreys neck. Sorey yielded.

Instantly the coldness in Mikleo's eyes left, and he started to smile, breathing heavily though his mouth. It wasn't an unpleasant face, despite the blood. Mikleo extended a hand to Sorey and helped him up.

"I take this round."

"Round? What is it, best out of three?"

"First to five," came the reply without hesitation.

"You don't want to get yourself cleaned up first?"

The blood was still flowing down his forehead, but Mikleo took his position in the centre of the lawn and made a defensive stance.

Sorey took the next round. He had whipped round Mikleo when he had lost his footing and tackled him. He had him pinned to the ground, red faced and breathless, and he yielded.

Mikleo took the next, again by taking Soreys feet out from under him. The next was his also, Mikleo had parried leaving Sorey open and a firm jab to the chest had sent him toppling over.

Sorey took another, simply because Mikleo tripped over his shoelaces.

He could hear the girls talking behind him.

"I thought this would be funny, but they're going at each other pretty hard," said a voice he could recognise as Rose, audible through the sound of the blood pumping in his ears.

"I'm scared for them. Should we tell them to stop?" asked Alisha.

"I don't think that they could kill each other, even if they wanted to." That was Edna.

Lailah just kept sighing.

Mikleo's hair band had flung off at some point, and his hair was now sticking up in all directions. He looked demented.

Sorey took the next point quickly. Mikleo had held his staff in front of him to defend from Soreys sword, but a sudden hard push from Sorey sent him flying back.

For the next, Mikleo hit Sorey in the head with the end of his staff in the first move, and Sorey's subsequent moves were poor as a result. Sorey swore he could see regret in Mikleo's expression as he put his staff to his chest.

Sorey thought he might have started to understand why Mikleo wanted to fight. Everything hurt, but there was a real high. He had never felt this way before.

Mikleo only needed one more to win. Mikleo blocked Soreys swing, and they were both pushing towards each other, weapons locked, feet set wide apart as if they were grappling. Sorey made a hard push while also hooking his foot behind Mikleo's heel, and Mikleo fell backwards.

Four-four.

They had ended up in the same position again, weapons held in front of them, feet braced. But this time Mikleo made a quick turn and jabbed the bottom end of his staff into the soft part of Soreys stomach. He doubled over and fell to the ground immediately.

"You win Mikleo."

Mikleo fell to the grass and lay next to Sorey, head right next to his.

He could see how water was very slightly welling up in his eyes, the red flakes peeling off his brow, the mud painted on his cheek, and a single drop of blood pooling on his lip.

"Sorey. I don't know what got into me."

"You fought well."

"I hurt you. I shouldn't have done that. I let this get out of hand." Mikleo lifted up his arm to drop it around Sorey. He rolled over so his head was in the crook of Soreys neck. "You fought well too."

After a few seconds he could hear hushed mumblings coming from the area of the barbecue.

"You're all thinking what I'm thinking, right?" Rose said to the other girls, who did their best to stifle their laughter.

Sorey clambered to his feet to help Mikleo up.

"There's a first aid kit in the kitchen," Mikleo said running off.

When he came back he dragged Sorey into the living room and started cleaning up his face with an antiseptic wipe.

"Mikleo, I swear you're worse off than me. I'll fix you up first."

"Just wait a minute."

Mikleo was up close to his face, focusing intently on picking out the pieces of grit that had embedded themselves in the skin around Soreys hairline out with tweezers. There was a scratch on his nose that stung when cleaned and needed a small dressing. There was a large scratch just above his ankle that needed a large one.

"I think you're done."

Sorey started cleaning all the blood from Mikleo's face. He'd needed two wipes.

"Let's never do that again," Mikleo said through gritted teeth, wincing at the pain.

"Of course you'd say that. You'll always be the reigning champ if we never fight again."

"Don't joke, I mean it. I think we're pretty evenly matched anyway."

Sorey gave Mikleo two large dressings, one for the abrasions on his knee, another for his left elbow, and then he stood.

"Hey, why did you want to fight so much?"

Mikleo didn't answer, and instead walked away towards their friends and the smell of cooking beef.


	7. May

Sorey had never really stopped to notice how close he and Mikleo had become. Just how entwined he had become in his life.

There was lectures, to start. For morning lectures, Mikleo was always there before him, with a seat saved for him on the front row. In his bag would be a spare packet of Biro's which Sorey was sure were for his benefit as he was always losing his, with a cereal bar and an apple. Sorey had originally thought that Mikleo was just the type to carry lots of food around with him, but then remembered Mikleo's earlier concern when he had learned that Sorey skipped breakfast whenever he had morning lectures. Mikleo had been deliberately packing him breakfast 3 days a week. He'd have to pay him back someday.

There was also the buffer seat. Mikleo had used to put his bag on the seat next to him, leaving some space between them. Sorey couldn't quite pinpoint when it was that the bag moved to the floor.

Their time in the library had changed too. They were no longer allowed in the quiet zone, and instead they spent their days in the group work area. It was pleasant down in the basement there, with big squishy sofa's that used to belong to the Library cafe before it was remodelled over the summer. The vinyl was cracked where it had perished but Sorey found he could sink into them for hours easily.

They brought books down with them from the upper levels, and read for hours, but never in silence for more than a few minutes. Soon enough one of them would pipe up with a new idea or discovery that just had to be shared. Food was allowed in the basement so on Mondays they took turns fetching a bargain bucket to make a change from prepacked ham sandwiches. They had been working on something together, a list of places they felt they really needed to see, each placed in a ranking after extensive discussion. It spanned seven pages in Mikleo's journal.

 _Maybe we could go and see them together?_

They were both yet to say that.

A lot of their evenings and weekends were spent together too. It wasn't unusual for one of them to take their controller and a couple of cans of cider to the others house for evening of fighting games, and there was always an open invitation for Mikleo to join Sorey, Rose and Alisha in their Friday night takeaway.

There was also Zaveids pub crawl. He was an events rep and had sold tickets to all of Mikleos house and Sorey was guilted into buying three tickets for him and his housemates after Zaveid accosted him in the Library while Mikleo gave him a pleading look.

Zaveid had gathered them and around twenty more of his victims, all freshers who didn't know better, and moved them along to a series of dark rooms with black walls and sticky floors, where if they wanted they could pay far too much for half a plastic cup of 'cola flavoured soft drink' with a thimble full of paint stripper that barely met the legal requirements to be called vodka.

After a few Red Stripes they had begun to have fun. Mikleo could start dancing, even though he hated the edm that was playing and Lailah and Alisha took turns pretending Rose was their girlfriend in order to ward off the drunk boys with polo shirts and disconnected undercuts. They seemed to be enjoying themselves a bit too much. Later in the night Rose would go on to kiss Alisha on the mouth. It had never been brought back up in Soreys earshot.

All this time Edna was enjoying herself by tying together the shoelaces of the guys stood at the bar. She had made 6 strangers fall down simultaneously and ordered a round of tequila for everyone to celebrate.

Mikleo had taken the tequila well, but the jagerbombs they'd all been provided with at the next stop hadn't sat well with him at all. He'd ran to the smoking area in a hurry and when Sorey had caught up he was throwing up over the rails.

"I'm not even drunk," he had proclaimed. "It's just that that concoction is the worst thing I've ever drunk. Why do people even like these?"

"I don't really know," Sorey had said, brushing Mikleo's hair off his face and away from his mouth. "The caffeine in the Redbull's a stimulant, alcohol's a depressant, and it's all suspended in what's basically sugar syrup. It sounds like something specifically designed to mess you up."

He had looked up at his friend for a moment, the colour drained from his face, his purple eyes staring up at the streetlights that were reflected back in them. "I'll go and get you some tissue and water."

When he had come back Mikleo was spitting over the side. When he had heard him returning he had hung his head in shame.

"Here you go," he had said, handing him a plastic cup of water and a wad of paper towels. "I've called us a taxi. You should go home. Have lots of water and a bowl of cereal."

Mikleo had drank the water in one go and wiped his mouth. "You don't have to do this you know. Look after me."

"Of course I do," Sorey had said, taking him by the shoulders. "You'd do the same if it were me."

Mikleo hadn't disagreed. He was most likely too tired to come up with a sarcastic retort. Sorey took him home that night, fed him, looked after him, and only left when he had eaten, drank, and was tucked up in bed with the colour back in his cheeks.

That had been last week.

"Sorey. Can you pass me your wrappers?"

Alisha's voice came to him through a haze. His eyes focused on the TV directly in front of him. _A New Hope._ The trash compactor scene. It felt like they had only just put the film on a minute ago. The smell of Mikleo's herbal tea drifted to him across the metres distance between them, pleasantly masking the smell of left over chips that had been left on the side. It seemed that herbal tea agreed with Mikleo far more that herbal digestifs ever would. His hands were wrapped tightly around the mug as he leaned forward, tense, eyes tracking the characters on the screen with machine precision. Sorey didn't quite understand. He thought the appeal of rewatching films was in the fact that could relax, lean back and be mellow, but Mikleo was always as ensnared and invested whether it was the first time watching a film or the tenth. It was endearing, in a way.

"Sorey! Wrappers!"

"Ok Alisha," he said, lurching up to collect all the greasy papers. He binned them all and sat back down next to Mikleo. He wanted to hold his shoulders and pull him back into the soft nest of cushions that were the house sofa.

 _Back into his chest. Back into the crook of his neck._

But he didn't. His neck will hurt tomorrow, the way he's sat, he thought. But he'd be alright. He kept ibuprofen in his bag at all times. Probably, primarily, for Soreys benefit.

A short while after the film had ended and the sun had gone down, Mikleo departed with a wave, closing the door behind him.

Rose came up behind Sorey and pushed on his shoulders to steer him into the living room where she pushed him down into the sofa.

"Sit. I'm making us both a drink. Tea, coffee or beer?"

"Coffee, and why do I get the feeling I don't have a choice about this?"

Rose didn't respond. She looked at her phone while waiting on the kettle.

"Hey, do you know someone called Dezel Yurlin?"

"I've met one Dezel before. What does he look like?"

"I don't know. All his pictures are of dogs. He just liked a two year old photo of mine on Instagram."

"Weird. Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

Rose brought two mugs to the coffee table and sat across from Sorey.

"No, no, I only just saw that." Rose took a deep breath of the coffee steam. "It's about Mikleo."

"What about him?"

What could rose possibly have against Mikleo? She'd never seemed to have a problem with him before, sure she teased him, but that's usually a sign that she likes someone. Did she maybe hear Mikleo tell Sorey about how he thought she made weak tea?

"That boy's in love with you Sorey."

 _Huh._

"I've seen the way he looks at you, I've seen the way he changed around you. When you first brought him here he was a nervous and flinchy mess around you, and now he's had time he's … well I can't quite explain but it's in his eyes -" Roses face switched from one of of concern to one of surprised irritation. "- Sorey, try not to look so happy!"

"Well, what should I be?"

"Oh, I don't know, awkward, confused, embarrassed?"

The steam rose gently from his coffee.

"Well, I am confused now. I mean, he is beautiful isn't he?"

"Sorey!" Rose spilled her coffee all over her hand, "Drat!"

"Go put that in cold water."

"I'm going, I'm going," Rose said as she rushed to the sink. She ran her hand under the tap and sat down next to Sorey with her hand wrapped in a wet towel.

"I … I just didn't know you swing that way. I'm sorry." Rose gingerly made another attempt at her coffee. "Though in all the time I've known you I haven't seen any real evidence for you swinging either way. What I mean to say is that I never picked up on you liking him back."

Sorey sunk.

"I don't know that I do. I haven't actually given it any thought."

Rose carefully brought her coffee up to her lips with her left hand, took a long sip, and then placed it back on the table.

"You really should. A lot of it. And promise me something Sorey."

Sorey brought his head up and nodded.

"You'll be careful with that poor boy."

"I promise."


	8. June

The last month of the semester was the hardest. Coursework deadlines and exam dates never had more than a few days breathing room between them. Mikleo had been pushing Sorey throughout the whole semester so they weren't as unprepared as many of their other course mates, but it was a hard few weeks.

Mikleo had said the previous week should be spent apart, as he couldn't truly concentrate on revision when Sorey was around. Sorey understood, but found it was a different case for him. Mikleo's presence made him focus on his work better, and without him he spent to long watching Netflix on his 'breaks' and found his eyes glazing over, not reading the worksheets and books in front of him. He only managed to buckle down to do revision when he realised it was the only way to stop himself thinking about his and Roses prior conversation.

He was glad when the last written exam was over. He and Mikleo had gone to get milkshakes together straight after it had finished, as a short break of sorts, but it didn't take very long until the conversation turned to the next matter of business. The final coursework hand in. The paired project.

Mikleo may have well moved in for those last four days. He only went home for his four hours sleep and a shower, all work, even all meals were taken in Soreys room. For the bulk of their time they assumed the same position - Sorey sat at his desktop, Mikleo sat right next to him on his laptop at his desk. The first two days were spent planning, doing research and turning a scrappy mind map in pencil and sharpie into a detailed bullet-point plan. The next two days were for writing it up long form and formatting and illustration. Mikleo had a better way with words than Sorey so handled the bulk of the text, and Sorey handled formatting, drawings, diagrams, and selection of accompanying photos. By the evening on the fourth day they weren't anywhere near as close to finishing as they thought they would be. Neither of them made a comment on the time, despite being highly aware of its passing. When the sun started to come back up Sorey couldn't keep his eyes focused on the screen and couldn't tell if the feeling in the pit of his stomach was hunger or nausea. Red and blue zigzags lines decorated Mikleo's screen. But they were almost done.

The birds started singing. Sorey tried to whistle along in response. He couldn't remember the last time he had heard the dawn chorus.

The desktop made a quiet _bing_ noise, to indicate that _new discoveries in Viking burials and what can be learned final_ had been saved.

"That's it," said Mikleo, standing up briefly before dropping down onto Soreys bed. "That's the last of the referencing. We're done."

"Good. I'm so tired."

Bags were forming under his slightly reddened eyes but he was smiling. Neither of them looked their best, at six am after pulling an all-nighter, after weeks of exams, at the end of the year. Sorey's hair had gotten longer again and was starting to get in his eyes. Locks of hair from the crown were poking in all the wrong directions due to grease and Soreys habit of always running his fingers through it and pulling at it when he was stressed. Mikleo's hair had gotten longer too, and was mingling with his glasses. They were both wearing knee length denim shorts and t shirts that almost certainly stank, although they wouldn't be able to tell as they'd been in the same room with only each other for the past twenty two hours.

"We're finished," Mikleo said, taking his glasses of and detangling his hair with his fingers. "Completely finished for the year. It's just summer now. I can't quite believe it."

"Yeah."

They were done for the year. Done with the paired project, done with university, done with their evenings spent together in the library, done with all their petty bickering. Who knew what it might be like in September? Looking at Mikleo, messy hair, eyelids flickering in an attempt to stay open, a soft smile on his lips, he began to feel afraid of the future.

"Mikleo."

"What?" he said, violet eyes wide, meeting Soreys.

 _Pushing the question to the back of his mind had_ _n't helped anything._

Sorey dove forwards, placed his hands around Mikleo's jawline, eyes shut, and pushed his lips against his.

 _He didn_ _'t understand what he was doing._

He didn't know what to do from this position. Mikleo was immobilised with shock.

 _He had promised to be careful._

He pulled away.

"I … I'm so sorry. You should know that wasn't premeditated."

Mikleo didn't respond for a while, but stayed still, eyes wide but staring forwards blankly.

"Sorey I … didn't know. If I'd had known …"

Mikleo looked up at Sorey, and for a brief moment Sorey forgot to be embarrassed.

 _He_ _'s so beautiful._

In the next moment he could feel Mikleo's fingers in his hair, and the next, his lips on his.

 _Maybe that_ _'s all there is to understand._

The next time either of them pulled away was when Mikleo jumped up to sit back at the computer.

"I mean, when I said we were finished I meant we were finished with the actual writing part, we haven't proofread it yet. We still need to export as a pdf and make sure that that doesn't mess with the formatting. Then upload it onto the system, and we have to go to the library to print off two copies each, and then hand those in at the main office and to our tutors. We may have got the hard part over with, but we can't relax yet."

The next hour was spent proofreading, a task that they both agreed would be easier when not sleep deprived, and a further half hour fixing the formatting so that the pdf printer didn't mess it up. Then there was an unexpected forty minutes needed to shrink down and replace all the images because the file was too large to upload. There was a queue for printing, and all in all, it took them an additional four hours to get to the point of handing it in.

After it all was truly done they both stood outside the office, in a drab corridor in the archaeology department.

"So," said Sorey, breaking what would have been silence if it wasn't for the metallic hum of the air conditioner. "You kissed me."

Mikleo's face turned pink.

"You kissed me first!"

"So I guess we just call it even?"

They walked through the corridor in silence, eyes to the ground, both of them pretending not to notice the embarrassed smile on the others face.

"I'm going to go home now. Go to bed. I'm so tired."

"Me too I think," Mikleo replied.

They walked halfway together and parted in silence.

During Soreys four hour midday nap, he dreamt of Mikleo. They were both astronauts for some reason.


	9. The End of the Semester

Sorey and Mikleo had decided that they would meet today up today and spend the day in the countryside to celebrate finishing for the year. They had decided this last week.

Sorey looked through his wardrobe figuring out what would be best to wear. A loose cotton shirt would be best in the heat, or, _or,_ he could wear that tight fitted T shirt that brought out his eyes.

 _Why am I over thinking this?_

He wore the fitted T shirt.

He met Mikleo at the bus stop, and they both exchanged words about how nice it was to be finished for the year and how good they felt after sleeping.

Mikleo's hair was styled back again for the first time in weeks, and he had opted for a loose cotton shirt. The bags under his eyes had all but disappeared, the purple in his irises was a little brighter than they had been, but the whites were still a little bloodshot. His lips were pink.

On the bus they sat on seats in front of each other rather than next to each other, while struggling for words to say. But it was alright. They both looked out of the window, looking at the tall concrete structures of the sixties make way for modest buildings over a century old, which then made way for fields. The pastures rolled away into the distance, gentle undulations turning into valleys between steep rocky outcrops. The landscape dropped away. The road skirted around the edge of a bowl, woods, farmhouses and rivers laid out beneath them.

It was the kind of view that made you forget the social compulsion to talk. Sorey turned to watch Mikleo sat in front of him, how his nose was close to touching the glass and how his eyes were wide and transfixed on the moving landscape.

The bus pulled up at their stop, a small, sweet village, nestled cosily between steep hills. Their plan had been to go for a long walk around the area, which was full of Neolithic mines and abandoned millstones. They fumbled over the map, hastily agreed on a route and set off. It didn't take long for the silence to feel heavy, so they talked about current events. For over an hour they never let the conversation drop, one of them always piping up with another point whenever one of them hadn't talked for over five seconds. They didn't make eye contact this whole time.

They sat down on a rock at the top of the hill, looking back down on to the village. Mikleo kept switching between staring up at the sky and down at his feet. He was peeling the sticker off his water bottle and it looked like he was biting on the inside of his lip.

"Hey Mikleo."

"Yeah," he replied, turning to look towards him, but not truly at him.

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with _S._ "

Mikleo took a second to look surprised, then laughed a little under his breath. "Is it _Sky_?"

Sorey flashed a grin and gave a thumbs up. "You got it! Now it's your turn."

"That one was a bit too easy, don't you think?"

"No," Sorey said. "You've got to start super easy and then build up."

"OK. I spy something beginning with _G._ "

"Is it _grass_?"

They made their way back to the village, and sat down in the beer garden of a nice pub, in full sun. The conversation had started to flow more easily, and Mikleo had started to loosen up.

"Have you thought about what optional modules you're taking next semester?" Mikleo asked.

Sorey put his beer back down on the table. "I was thinking of doing the Egyptology one, that 'Cradle of Mankind' one looked interesting, and the one on modern field methods. Doesn't seem that exciting, but looks good for employability purposes. What about you?"

"I wish I'd have gone first. It'll just sound like I've copied you now."

"That's a good thing, right? We can work and study together again next year." He gave Mikleo a hearty slap on the shoulder. "And great minds think alike, right."

Mikleo almost smiled, but turned it into a smirk. "But fools rarely differ."

Sorey cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow.

"Great minds think alike, but fools rarely differ. That's the phrase in full."

After taking a long sip of his drink Sorey replied. "So, are we great minds or fools? Or a bit of both."

"Hmm. I'd say I'm the great mind and you're the fool."

Sorey jokily agreed. But he thought _no._ Having spent a whole day pretending like nothing had happened, like nothing had changed . . . They were _both_ fools.

They waited at the bus terminal, under a summer sun that had no intention of going down for several hours. Mikleo yawned and Sorey followed in suit. They had been sat at the stop for a while, a queue of people had formed behind them and the bus had failed to arrive.

It had been a hard day. He hadn't struggled to get Mikleo to talk so much since they had first met. He didn't want to think that his careless actions had set them back almost six months. It wasn't just Mikleo. Frequently and sporadically throughout the day his heartbeat had gone crazy. And as much as he'd wanted Mikleo to make eye contact with him, in the brief moments he had, he'd lost both his train of thought and his mastery of language.

They would have to move forward somehow.

He found Mikleos hand, palm down on the bench next to him, picked it up and squeezed it, without turning to face him. Mikleo remained staring intently ahead, a rush of blood to his face adding even more red to his complexion than the sun had already left there. He twisted his hand around and threaded his fingers in between Soreys.

He leaned forwards to catch Mikleo's gaze.

"Hey. I don't really know the right way to talk about this kind of thing, but if it means a thing to you, I . . ." He paused. "Well, if it means anything to you, I think you're absolutely beautiful."

Mikleo stayed still, but Sorey could feel the blood pumping faster in his hand. Sorey continued. "And I'll miss you over summer, even if we keep in contact."

Mikleo finally turned to face him.

"I'll miss you too."

He could feel it in the air between them, thick, heavy and intoxicating, stronger than it had been all day. He leaned forward, leaning his forehead against Mikleos, his hand drawn towards the back of his head, fingers lacing through his fine silvery hair. Mikleo's eyes widened as Sorey's started to close, and he could feel Mikleo's breath against his lips.

The bus pulled in next to them with a screech, and the doors folded open. They both froze, sensing the impatience of those queueing behind them.

Sorey dashed to the bus and jumped in, not letting go of Mikleos hand. They both hastily showed their tickets and clambered up to the top deck of the bus, and sat next to each other at the front. Sorey placed his hands on either side of Mikleo's head, and pulled him closer.

Mikleo was impatient, diving forward. Their forehead hit each other's a little too hard, but their lips were finally pressed together.

In the moments that came next, everything was alright. The tension, the nerves, the uncertainty, was gone. Sorey couldn't have called it clarity, or peace, it was something different entirely.

He could feel Mikleo gently biting on his lip, his fingers gently playing with the hair around the nape of his neck.

Joy, maybe?

They pulled apart in good time, with smiles on their faces, rolling hills and countless sheep passing them by in the windows on all sides.

"You know, I think it probably would have been better if we'd have done this first thing," Sorey said.

"Honestly, I was really hoping that you would."

Mikleo took a deep breath.

"I may not talk like this much, but I think you're beautiful too. I have since the very first time I saw you, walking in late to the introductory lecture. I thought you were the most attractive person I'd ever seen. I thought it was just a dispassionate observation at first but . . . It wasn't. I don't know if you've ever been in the same position, but when you watch someone from a distance for long enough you build up this version of who they are as a person from the little you do know. And you fall for that person.

"So becoming your friend was strange. Not just because I found it hard to talk to you initially, but because every day I spent with you, you were stripping more and more of my imagined version of you away. And it was painful. But after some time, I realised that the real you was far better than he ever was. That didn't make it easier though. I mean, I found it far easier to talk to you and to be myself around you, but I never believed for a second that you'd ever kiss me. I had resigned myself to just being happy that I'd made a friend like you.

"Maybe that was over sharing. Maybe you think I'm a little crazy now. I should have stopped at you're beautiful."

Sorey took his hand again.

"It's OK. A bit weird, but fine. It explains a lot actually."

He felt Mikleo squeeze.

"What was this other me like anyway?" Sorey asked.

"Oh? Just a lot more like me, actually."

"Yeah, I'm definitely better than that guy then."

Mikleo laughed. "I was just trying to say that I like you a lot."

"I like you a lot too."

The country had started to make way for city and the sun had painted the concrete orange.

"I have to ask," Mikleo said with a note of concern in his voice, "what is it that you want?"

"Generally speaking, I want to be happy, and I want as many other people as possible to be happy. And then I want to see the world."

"You know full well I didn't mean generally."

"I told you, I don't really know the words to talk about this stuff. Not a single one."

"You just want me to go first don't you?"

Sorey nodded.

"Alright. I want us to be together."

Sorey shot upright. "Yes! _'To be together'_ It's so simple."

He felt Mikleo squeeze his hand harder again.

"Wait, what does being together entail, exactly?"

"What do you want it to?" Mikleo asked.

Sorey paused for thought. "I want to see you a lot. And kiss you several times a day. And know everything there is to know about you."

"I want that too."

Sorey looked to Mikleo as he was smiling, profile silhouetted against the tower blocks that were coming into view in the distance.

"I want to see the world _with you_ Mikleo."

Mikleos smile turned to a cunning grin. "Are you free tomorrow?" he asked.

"I can be."

"We can get a hire car for a day. I heard of a Neolithic burial complex within easy driving distance. I know it's not the world, but it's a start."


End file.
